"Now it's your turn! Attack!"

It was easy to say but not to do. I closed my eyes and lifted my arm, but could not even get close to Eugene, who only stepped aside. My sword dully whistled, cutting through the air.

"You're too predictable and clumsy. Stop thinking! Use your powers! And don't close your eyes before the attack."

"I've been living in the body of an ordinary person without any super abilities for almost 19 years, so I'm sorry that I don't know how to use them."

"Focus on your inner feelings. Shape the Force. Imagine how you control it. In fact, this substance is like water. It's in your powers to give it the necessary form like it was with that ball!" he nodded toward the destroyed wall. "You won't be able to harm me, but you'll be able to use dexterity, refract space, move faster, and hit harder. Do not act like a human. Do not give commands to the muscles but control the Force. Or let it control you."

Only Eugene knew what he was talking about because I, personally, didn't understand how to control something that wasn't mine and that I hadn't even felt until now. I sighed and concentrated, as I was taught to do at the first yoga classes. Meditation was not my strong suit. It always seemed a waste of time. It was not easy to find a hint of the otherworldly inside. I did not feel any special changes at rest. Even hallucinations, which literally drove me crazy in the morning, were gone. The anger that helped me feel the surge of Force just disappeared along with the huge energy ball that had destroyed half of the wall.

"I'm sorry but not today! I can't help it. This is all too much to deal with at once…" Eugene's ironical smile stopped me. "Why are you looking at me like that? Don't you know what fatigue is?"

He nodded and then said,

"Look under your feet!"

I looked up and raised my eyebrows in surprise. My body hovered about half a meter above the ground, and my feet clearly felt the solid ground. There was no slightest hint that I was weightless.

"Wow!"

"You have to understand that it's part of you now. As long as the Force is in you, everything you take away becomes yours, and you can use it the same way you use your voice or hearing, for example. You don't have to try too hard, get angry, meditate or something else you've been thinking of. Just act!"

I nodded and smiled. If it's mine, then why can't I give this blockhead some business?

Further on, everything was quite strange. The feeling was amazing like I was a passenger in my own body, an observer. My brain could only perceive the changing images, and the mind hovered somewhere near the body. It was not me, but something inside me that was acting at the moment. I did not really want to be controlled, especially by something lifeless. I needed to find a way to cooperate with that Force and not just obey.

Picking up the sword, I literally came up to Eugene and made an attack, which he easily repelled, but I did not stop there. My feet walked through the air like up the stairs, and I could easily climb higher to hit from above. I began to like it with time. I moved more boldly and hit harder, trying to find a loophole in Eugene's protection. He was too fast, and I barely had time to notice his movements, which were so light that it seemed as if he was playing rather than fighting. Sweat flowed down my back and, pushing away from the invisible wall, I hung in the air perpendicular to Eugene, while swaying my sword. He did not repel the attack but bent down like Neo in The Matrix, and my sword whizzed past him.

In a blink of an eye, I noticed that we were being watched, having lost a few precious moments of attention. When I looked back at Eugene, he was already attacking. With every attack, blows came from all sides, as if there were several opponents. I barely had time to repel his blazing attacks, having the fear of being cut in half by his magic sword. There was nowhere to retreat, and I rested my back against the wall. Eugene was not going to stop the fight, even after cornering me. As if in slow motion, I saw him lifting his hand to strike from above, holding the sword firmly in both hands. I closed my eyes and prepared for the pain, but nothing happened. Having opened my eyes, I discovered that my sword stopped Eugene's blow.

He nodded and stepped back.

"Not bad as for the first time! Not bad at all! But your fear doesn't let the Force get released in full. You don't have to control the fight. In the end, you'll just die!"

"What do you mean?" I asked, getting up and shaking off.

"You have to unleash your inner demon when you fight. I do not think, do not analyze, but obey my inner warrior."

“That's lovely! You have a warrior, and I got a demon! Why is that?"

"The Guardians are neutral. We're created to serve the Balance. But you're a different creature. You'll have to fill the Force with souls and abilities of the Murky Shadows, demons, and other creatures. You can have only their abilities, so you get the inner demon. Let's go! I'll take you to the library! I need to take care of a few things, and then we'll send you home."

The library of the Guardians was amazing. Multi-level cabinets with numerous shelves and breathtaking stairs led to the cherished goal – ancient tomes, scrolls, and even leather scraps of fabric. All the most valuable works of the ancient literature were gathered here. One had to lift up the head to see the end of the bookcase. The territory of the library could be compared to the football field gathering all the most valuable specimens. But there was no echo as if the architect had specially worked on the sound insulation so that every reader could retire with one of the numerous exclusive volumes. There were also massive tables with chairs like in the reading room of the Royal Library. This library could not even be compared with the Harvard Library, which was considered to be one of the best in the world. All that I saw now was a thousand times more amazing than the university library. I even stopped breathing because I was so amazed by the view.

Since my childhood, I was considered a bookworm, and now I happened to be in the juiciest apple in the world.

Eugene led me to one of the tables, put a pile of books in front of me and said,

"Read this. In these books, you'll find the fundamental information about what's happening and where you're now. I'll be back as soon as possible."

To my relief, Eugene quickly left, and I plunged into reading. All the books, which the Guardian gave to me, were old, but not enough to describe the world's oldest civilization. As soon as I read them, I understood why they confused me. I thought that these were the textbooks for young Guardians. All the ancient information and descriptions were summarized in these textbooks, which were very similar to our own books on history. I snorted at the thought this so-called higher race was not much different from the human race. Perhaps, they even borrowed some of our "useless inventions", like writing textbooks. Most likely, it was true, because these materials were not available for people so we could not adopt this way of presenting information. Or could we? Tol told that some representatives of so-called higher races often lived among ordinary people. What if all the most famous inventors from the beginning of times were not ordinary people? It would be interesting to know whether I was right in my assumptions.

I was captured by the information that I perceived as myths of Ancient Greece. My mother often liked to read them to me as a child, but they were a little far from reality, judging by these books. However, some of the myths were true, which seriously shocked me.